Bambusa arundinacea Homeopathy Remedy

-VERMEULEN Frans,
Bamb-a.

Bambusa arundinacea

Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience.
Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.
[Hal Borland]
Signs
Bambusa arundinacea. Bambusa vulgaris. Bambusa bambos. Spiny Bamboo.
N.O. Graminae.
CLASSIFICATION bambusa arundinacea homeopathy remedy a belongs to the genus Bambusa of the widespread monocotyledonous family Gramineae [or Poaceae] containing about 9000 species of grasses in 657 genera. Grasses generally have long narrow parallel-veined leaves, a round hollow stem, and inconspicuous flowers in a terminal panicle, spike, or raceme. Grasses are the dominant vegetation in savannahs, prairies, and steppes. Economically they are the most important family of plants as they contain all the cereals, which are man's staple diet. They are also widely planted for pasture and fodder.
BAMBOOS Unlike most other grasses, bamboos grow very tall - up to 40 metres. There are over 70 genera and 1200 species of bamboo worldwide. In general, they are fast growing, and have woody stems. Bamboo can produce ten times more cellulose material per hectare per year than even fast growing trees like Pinus radiata. Like many grasses, they self-propagate by spreading underground. There are basically two modes of growth: clumping or running. Running bamboos have long adventitious rhizomes. They are temperate climate plants that tolerate many degrees of frost and even annual snow cover. Because of the light conditions they only have branches on the upper portions. A single bamboo plant can give rise to a stand - even a forest - of plants constituting a single, physically connected entity. The stems in a grove are all connected by a network of rhizomes, and the grove acts more like a single plant than many separate ones. A healthy, uncontained grove may double its root area every year. The rhizomes of non-invasive, 'clumping' bamboos, on the other hand, grow only several inches a year. Clumping bamboos are commonly tropical or subtropical. They usually have many branches at each node with one or two prominent. Native to tropical and subtropical to mild temperate regions, bamboos have their heaviest concentration and largest number of species in East and Southeast Asia.
HABITAT Bamboos need full sun to partial shade. They like lots of water, but not wet feet; hence they prefer fast-draining soils.

Bambusa arundinacea

FEATURES "The woody, hollow aerial stems [culms] of bamboo grow in branching clusters from a thick underground stem [rhizome]. The culms often form a dense undergrowth that excludes other plants. Bamboo culms can attain heights ranging from 10 to 15 cm in the smallest species to more than 40 m in the largest. Mature bamboos sprout horizontal branches that bear sword-shaped leaves on stalked blades; the leaves on young culms arise directly from the stem. Though the culms of some species grow quickly [as much as one foot per day], most bamboos flower and produce seeds only after 12-120 years' growth, and then only once in their lifetime."1 The mass flowering of a bamboo species - all around the world at the same time! - can be catastrophic, disrupting ecologies with bird and rodent population explosions.
PROPERTIES "The properties of bamboo shoots are especially interesting for this study because the homoeopathic remedy is prepared from the shoots. Quite unusually in comparison with other plants, the young bamboo shoot will not grow any more in thickness. As a shoot it already has the same circumference as the eventual bamboo cane will have. The number of segments between the joints [internodes] is already fixed within the shoot; no later growth in height or girth is possible. Therefore, if the later stem is 30 cm thick, the shoot, when it pushes through the soil, is also 30 cm thick. These shoots develop underground in autumn and emerge in spring."2 Just like wheat germ and nuts, the growing shoots of bamboo are high in protein, whereas the adult cells are rich in sugars and minerals. The growth of the shoots is so vigorous at its early stage that it may produce a distinct noise when piercing its way through the culm-covering sheet. The ancient Chinese used the incredibly fast growth of the culm for the punishment of criminals. Tied to the culm, the victim's body was pulled apart by the unstoppable 'lifting-power' of the bamboo.
FLOWERING "When a bamboo flowers, it is in danger of dying. Flowering bamboos do not always die; although many do - especially in the case of gregarious flowering. The phenomenon of gregarious flowering may involve many plants, but not necessarily all plants of that species or clone. Sometimes bamboo of a species growing over a large area may flower at the same time. ... The reason bamboos die after flowering is most likely so that the seedlings will receive the water, nutrients, room and sunshine that would otherwise be used by the mother. The debris of the dying parent mulches the seedlings. The mechanism for the timing of flowering and dying is a phenomenon not yet understood."

Bambusa Arundinacea medicinal uses and others:

"Bamboos are used for a great variety of purposes, esp. in East and Southeast Asia. The seeds are eaten as grain, and the cooked young shoots of some bamboos are eaten as vegetables, esp. in Chinese cuisines. The raw leaves are a useful fodder for livestock. The pulped fibres of several bamboo species, esp. Dendrocalamus strictus and Bambusa arundinacea, are used to make fine-quality paper. The jointed stems of bamboo have perhaps the most numerous uses; the largest stems supply planks for houses and rafts, while both large and small stems are lashed together to form the scaffoldings used on building-construction sites. The stems are also split up to make buckets and pipes or are used to make furniture, walking sticks, fishing poles, garden stakes, and other utensils. Some species of bamboo are used as ornamentals in landscape gardens. The fine-grained silica produced in the joints of bamboo stems has been used as a medicine in the Orient for centuries under the name tabasheer."4 Tabasheer, or bamboo sugar, is a product of Melocanna baccifera, Muli Bamboo. It is extremely rich in silica [up to 99%], and contains, in addition, traces of iron, calcium, and aluminium. Muli Bamboo has edible shoots and fruits the size and shape of pears; the fruits are eaten by people and domestic and wild animals.
BAMBUSA Bambusa arundinacea homeopathy remedy originates from India through to southern China. It is cultivated throughout Southeast Asia, and often grown as a hedge / windbreak and to stabilise banks on waterways. The thorny branches are used in fencing.
NAME The name Bambusa is the latinized version of the Malayan vernacular name. The specific name arundinacea derives from the Latin arundo, a reed, in allusion to its reed-like appearance.
SILICON The grass family in general, and Rice, Corn and Bamboo in particular, is remarkably rich in silicon dioxide. Silicon may comprise 1 to 2 per cent of the dry matter of grasses, yet experiments have generally failed to demonstrate that silicon is essential for most other plants. It seems to be particularly beneficial to grasses, where it accumulates in the cell walls, esp. of epidermal cells, and possibly plays a role in fending off fungal infections or preventing lodging [the condition in which stems are bent over by heavy winds or rain]. 5
POLLINOSIS Exposure to plants of the grass family can result in irritant and allergic contact dermatitis, contact urticaria, hay fever, and hay asthma. Millets, rice and bamboo have spicules which can produce urticarial papules in workers handling crops or litter straw. The wind-blown pollen of a number of species may be responsible for pollinosis [hay fever]; among them: Agropyron, Agrostis, Anthoxanthum, Bromus, Cynodon, Festuca, Lolium, Phleum, Poa, Triticum, and Zea. The minute brown bristles from the shoots of certain bamboo species are irritant to the gastrointestinal tract and have been used for criminal poisoning.
Bambusa Arundinacea medicinal uses: The root of bambusa arundinacea homeopathy remedy is in Indian and Ayurvedic medicine used to treat joint pain and general debility. The leaves are used to stimulate menstruation, as well as to help relieve menstrual pain, to expel worms, and to tone and strengthen stomach function. They have the reputation of being aphrodisiac. Bamboo shoots are a popular food item in eastern Asia. They are often canned. After removing the leaf sheaths, the stems are boiled for about half an hour to remove any bitterness [cyanogenic glycosides]. The shoots contain about 3 per cent protein, little fat, and about 5 per cent carbohydrate, but they are very low in vitamin C. They can be eaten to relieve nausea, indigestion and flatulence. A poultice of the sprouts is applied to infected wounds. Aqueous extracts of bambusa arundinacea homeopathy remedy possess oral hypoglycaemic activity, significantly lowering the fasting blood glucose level and improving glucose tolerance [in rats]. Maximum hypoglycaemic activity was observed up to three hours after ingestion. The effect was better than that of the hypoglycaemic agent tolbutamide. 6
ETHNOBOTANY "Bamboo is mostly vitality and paradox wrapped into what appears to be a plant of many personalities and still more personae. It is possibility and potential. It is warp and woof of a carefully interwoven nature. For the ancient Chinese for whom Tao, Buddha and Confucius formed the boundaries of actuality, a measured, meaningful life was defined and created by the relationship with bamboo. The Chinese said, believed and knew that it began with bamboo and ended with bamboo. The study of anything meaningful in life began with familiarity and ended with mastery. ... The fury of atomic energy unleashed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki only set the bamboo back a little. It was among the first of plants to reappear. ... In North America, back when the people that were here were the only people here, great expanses of bamboo spread across the south eastern regions, becoming the famous 'Breaks' of many legends passed down through Seminole, Cherokee and myriad other names which the people called themselves before those others came from across the seas and cut down the Breaks."7
SYMBOLISM Bamboo symbolizes gracefulness, constancy, yielding but enduring strength [it bends but does not break], lasting friendship, longevity and hardy old age [it is evergreen]. In Japan, the bamboo, along with the pine and the plum, is one of the three trees of good omen. For the Chinese these three plants are the Three Friends of Winter. Severing the umbilical cord of a newborn baby with a bamboo knife is thought to bring luck for the rest of one's life. For some [Chinese] Masters, the rustle of bamboos was the signal of enlightenment. Painting bamboo was a spiritual exercise rather than mere art. "Bamboo was used to drive off evil influences, less from any symbolic cause than from the fact that the wood goes off with a sharp crack when placed on the fire. The bamboo clump, the classic barrier, was often depicted as 'the jungle of sinners' through which the tiger, symbol of the spiritual force of Buddhism, alone can thread is way. ... The Bamum and Bamileke have a chip of bamboo which they call a guis [laugh] which is their symbol of happiness, the unadorned happiness of life free from illness and care."8 'Bamboo mentality' reflects a mentality, highly appreciated in Japan, in which one gives in but ultimately emerges from all troubles unbroken. As a variant of the iron curtain, the 'bamboo curtain' refers to the impenetrable political barrier of Asiatic, esp. Chinese communism. To a lesser degree, it may also reflect the inscrutability of southeastern Asian people.
HOMOEOPATHY Bambusa arundinacea medicinal uses & Homoeopathy uses 22 species of the grass family: Agropyron repens [Couch grass], Agrostis capillaris [Bent], Anatherum [Cuscus grass], Anthoxanthum odoratum [Sweet Vernal grass], Arundo mauritanica [Reed], Avena sativa [Oats], Bambusa, Bromus [Brome grass; two species], Cymbopogon [Lemon grass; two species], Cynodon dactylon [Bermuda grass], Hordeum [Barley], Lolium temulentum [Bearded Darnel], Oryza [Rice], Phleum pratense [Timothy], Saccharum officinale [Sugar cane], Secale cereale [Rye], Triticum [Wheat; two species], Zea [Corn; two species].
PROVINGS •• [1] Schuster - 20 provers [12 females, 8 males], 1994-95; method: double blind, placebo controlled with 6c, 30c, and Q3 [LM 3].
[1] Encyclopaedia Britannica. [2] Chevalier and Gheerbrant, Dictionary of Symbols. [3] Jaquith and Haubrich, When Bamboo Flowers; American Bamboo Society Newsletter 1996 no. 2. [4] Encyclopaedia Britannica. [5] Hopkins, Introduction to Plant Physiology. [6] Fernando, Hypoglycaemic activity of some medicinal plants in Sri-Lanka, Gen. Pharmacol. 1990, 21 [5]. [7] Milo G. Clark, How to be with Bamboo; American Bamboo Society. [8] Schuster, Bamboo: Homoeopathic proving of Bambusa arundinacea.
Affinity
Spine; CERVICAL REGION. Female organs. Nose. * Right side. Left side.
Modalities
Worse: COLD; draft of air. After parturition. Menses [before; at beginning of; during]. Warm room. Change of weather; stormy or rainy weather. Excitement.
Better: External heat.
Main symptoms
M NEED FOR SUPPORT.
• "It was noticeable that all the people who required bamboo as a remedy constantly supported themselves somewhere with their bodies, for instance resting their head on their hands, arms on the table, the back firmly against the back of the chair."1
Ailments caused by a combination of stress at work, emotional stress, loss of [financial or other] support or help, move to a new place due to divorce or career.
M Feeling of being stressed, particularly by one's child/children.
Ailments after parturition.
• "Pregnancy without any desire for children, virtually in order to produce an heir, seems to give a Bamboo symptomatology."
• "At present 'everything gets on her nerves', she is irritable and 'stressed'; sometimes 'she would gladly abandon her child' [laughs inappropriately]. But she was irritable during pregnancy, too. The young woman feels 'the whole situation is too demanding for her.' The child cries too much. She thinks a lot about all sorts of things ['worries about everything']. The burden is too much for her."3
• "'While nursing I have a terrible feeling. My mood is the same as when my mother died. I must always weep while nursing. I cannot and will not breastfeed any longer. I feel empty, miserable, depressed, drained of all energy. I am not the sort of person who can breastfeed her baby for a long time.' She feels completely stressed and almost persecuted by her crying baby. She lies in bed all day long and cannot take care of the household. Her husband had to stay home from work, then the mother-in-law had to move in to support her."4
Feels like a caged tiger.
Feeling of being imprisoned by duties.
Desire to be free to do one's own things; to go back to the time before having children and all the work involved in having a family.
Feeling of being overworked, overloaded, exhausted ['want to get rid of excess baggage'].
Feeling as if everything is getting on top of me, unable to sort things out.
M Silliness and inappropriate laughter.
Alternating with sleepiness and laziness.
G COLDNESS <. Chilliness. [Clinically verified] Great sensitivity to cold. Shivering. Cannot get warm in bed. G Sensation of heat; hot flushes. Cannot bear warm room; must have fresh air. Heat at beginning of menses. Cannot bear hot baths. G Perspiration. Profuse during sleep at night. Sweaty when eating. Profuse sweat in face. Sweaty from excitement. Perspiration smells like freshly made coffee. G Great hunger, even at night. Thirst at night. G SLEEPLESSNESS or disturbed sleep. [Observed by 12 provers!] On account of flow of thoughts, worries, dwelling. Feeling of panic at night. G PAINS STITCHING; appearing and disappearing suddenly. Pains mainly in the extremities, particularly in the hands and the feet. G Wave-like sensation. • Waves of burning heat along the spine. • Wave-like pain in head. • Wave-like earache. • Waves of nausea. • Vertigo as if floor were bouncing up and down like a wave. • Wave-like alteration between states of tension and relaxation. G Feeling of swelling / distension. As if cranium were swelling from eyebrows upwards ['hot-air balloon']. As if eyes were bulging out of head. Nose as if swollen. Cheeks as if swollen. Throat as if swollen. Cannot bear anything around throat. Feeling of distension, as if there were a large bubble in abdomen. Cannot bear a belt. G Increased discharges. [nose; saliva; mucus in throat; diarrhoea; flatus; urine; menses; perspiration] P Nose. Sneezing attacks; sneezing at the slightest cold. Obstruction of nose, < lying down and at night. Obstruction, alternating sides. P Painful STIFFNESS of NAPE of NECK. [Observed by 8 provers!] [Turning head is difficult, painful, or results in cracking in cervical spine.] < Change of weather [to storm and rain]. < Cold; > heat.
Pain extends to head and/or shoulder.
• "With almost clinical certainty, Bamboo relieves a stiff neck even in 6c and12c potencies. It should be tried for acute disk problems." [Schuster]
P Painful tension of breasts; before menses. [Clinically verified]
[1-2] Schuster, Bamboo: Homoeopathic proving of Bambusa arundinacea. [3-4] Schuster, Bamboo: An important remedy for 'ailments after parturition', HL 2/97.
Rubrics
Mind
Audacity [1]. Aversion to everything; everything is too much [1]. Desires to remain in bed [1]. Desire for change [1]. Aversion to company, fond of solitude [1]; with quarrelsomeness [1]. Cursing [1]. Delusions, alone in the world [1], body parts as if loose [1], everything will fail [1], has ruined his health [1], left and right side are not the same [1/1], of skin being very thin [1/1], everything is wrong [1]. Despair, everything is controlled by destiny [1/1]; wants support [1/1]. Aversion to being disturbed [1]. Fear of brain tumour [1], in a crowd [1], of her condition being observed [1], lest he should say something wrong [1], of losing self-control [1]. Forsaken feeling at night, with weeping [1]. Feeling of helplessness [2]. Impatience with children [1]. Irritability toward children [1], before menses [1], from reproaches [1], when spoken to [1]. Laughing; never laughs [1]; tendency to silly laughter [1]. Cannot bear to be looked at [1]. Pities herself from pain [1]. Sensitive to noise of birds [1/1]. Slowness in morning on waking [1]. Fritters away his time [1]; time passes too quickly [1]. Weeping from exhaustion [1], during pains [1]. Yielding disposition [1].
Vertigo
As if stepping into a hole [1/1]. Objects seem to move [1]. As if floor is moving in waves [1/1]; waves of dizziness from left to right [1/1], from heels to occiput [1/1].
Head
Pain, compelling to close eyes [1], > cold applications [1], with diarrhoea [1], with pain in cervical region [1], > rubbing [1].
Vision
Diplopia at night [1].
Nose
Obstruction, wakes him at night [1], blowing nose doesn't > [1], during headache [1], while lying on abdomen [1/1], sitting > [1/1]. Sneezing in cold air [1], when walking in open air [1].
Face
Sensation as if skin were thin [1/1].
Stomach
Heartburn after excitement [1/1], thinking of sweets < [1/1]. Nausea from odours [1]; in waves [1/1]. Thirst for large quantities [1]. Urine Odour like spoiled eggs [1]. Profuse, increased, with thirstlessness [1]. Female Menses, in gushes [1]; profuse, daytime [1], profuse, at night [1]. Sexual desire increased [1], in morning in bed [1], from touch [1]; violent, driving her to masturbation [1]. Chest Conscious of heart's action [1]. Swelling of mammae before menses [3]. Back Pain, > external heat [3]; cervical region, < motion of head [1]; lumbar region, at night in bed [1], at night when lying on left side [1], < lying on back [1], before menses [1], at beginning of menses [1]; coccyx, after a fall [2]. Stiffness in morning on waking [1], when cold [1], > motion [1], like a stick [1]; cervical region, from cold [1], during headache [1], before and during menses [1], from change of weather [1], from stormy, wet weather [1].
Limbs
Awkwardness, hands, drops things [1], lower limbs, knocks against things [1]. Sensation of heat in feet, but cold to the touch [1].
Sleep
Waking from slight noise [1], from perspiration [1].
Dreams
Amorous, with orgasm [1/1]. Body parts falling out [1]. Children; child is lost in crowd [1/1], is neglecting her child [1/1]. Giants [1]. Journey to China [1/1]. Money [1]. Huge monuments [1/1]. Murder [1]. Robbers [1]. Things are bigger and overpowering [1/1]. Wedding has to be repeated since only one half of the body has been married [1/1].
Perspiration
After excitement [1]. Odour, like fresh coffee [1/1], sweetish [1]. Profuse, at beginning of menses [1], during menses < [1]. Food Aversion: [1]: Beer; cigarette smoke; coffee; fat; hot food; meat; mushrooms. Desire: [1]: Alcohol; cake; cheese; chocolate; coffee; cold water; fruit juice; quark; refreshing; salt; sour; spicy; sweets; tobacco; wine. Worse: [1]: Alcohol [= heartburn]; beer [= heartburn, stomach pain]; cold drinks [= stomach pain]; meat [= eructations]; nuts [ = vomiting]; pork [= diarrhoea]; sweets [= heartburn, flatulence]. Better: [1]: Cold drinks.